A three-piece band burst into the indie music scene on October 1, 2016, playing at Chumaduthangi Kavala, a small landscaped space between Spencer Junction and University College in the city. Exactly a month later, this band had its official launch at an event at Technopark, under the name Chumadu Thangi.
“Our musical journey began at that Chumadu Thangi and hence that name,” says Safeer V Jabbar, who founded the band with Jishnu R Varma and Akshay Gireesh. While Safeer and Jishnu were collegemates at University College, Akshay was pursuing a course in sound engineering. Sangeeth Vijayan, a student at Karyavattam campus of the University of Kerala, joined the band as the fourth member. Although Akshay is not part of the troupe now, new musicians joined the band, making it a seven-piece band.
The band's claim to fame has been the viral track ‘Manikyamalaraya poovi’ from Oru Adaar Love, the song, which made Priya Prakash Varrier an overnight sensation.
“‘Manikyamalaraya poovi’ is actually a Mappilapattu written by PMA Jabbar four decades ago. We used it as an Eid greeting on our FB page. Omar ikka (Omar Lulu, director of Oru Adaar Love ) liked our arrangement and shared it on his Facebook page. He even invited us to perform the song at one of his family gatherings,” recalls Safeer.
Shaan Rahman tweaked their version for the film and Vineeth Sreenivasan crooned it. The video featured the band and that opened up more stages for them.
The band holds their first public concert in connection with Green Congress organised by Green Army International and the city Corporation on Sunday. “So far, we have been performing at college shows or at private events. This programme is open to the public,” says Jishnu, a member of the Green Army, an initiative of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation for youth and students to create awareness about zero waste and sustainable practices.
Jishnu, who also works as a green city coordinator of the project, adds, “Chumadu Thangi has always been associated with social causes. We have been donating 30 percent of the proceeds from our shows to charity.” At Sunday’s programme the band will perform their original tracks as well as cover numbers. Although Chumadu Thangi started as an acoustic band, the band has widened its soundscape when new members came in.
Safeer says, “We call our music independent alternative rock pop funk. A big platform for us was the Music Mojo series on Kappa TV, where we showcased six compositions of which three were original tracks.”
The concert is at Mall of Travancore on November 25 at 7 pm. Entry is free.
Meet the band
Chumadu Thangi has Safeer V Jabbar, Sangeeth Vijayan, Sajan Kamal, Joji Joy, Jerin Sam, Jibin Christopher and Jishnu R Varma.
